<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><title>Architecture Overview</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.76.1"><meta name="keywords" content="Intellon, Atheros, Qualcomm, HomePlug, powerline, communications, INT6000, INT6300, INT6400, AR7400, AR7420"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="Qualcomm Atheros Open Powerline Toolkit"><link rel="up" href="ch04.html" title="Chapter 4.  Firmware"><link rel="prev" href="ch04s02.html" title="Firmware Components"><link rel="next" href="ch04s04.html" title="Firmware Boot Process"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">
			Architecture Overview 
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		Firmware 
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			Architecture Overview 
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			The following figure illustrates a hypothetical powerline network consisting of two devices. Each device has an <span class="productname">INT6300</span>™  with optional dedicated flash memory and an onboard processor with associated storage. The processor in each device is the local host for that device and the remote host for the other device. The processor storage is unspecified but it must be persistent. The two devices are connected via coax or powerline. The flash memory is optional in this design because it uses the <span class="productname">INT6300</span>™  chipset. 
			</p><div class="figure"><a name="idp21198600"></a><p class="title"><b>Figure 4.1. 
				Simple Network
				</b></p><div class="figure-contents"><div class="mediaobject" align="center"><img src="SimpleNetwork.png" align="middle" alt="Simple Network"></div></div></div><br class="figure-break"><p>
			The Boot Loader is permanent program that executes on startup. It detects the presence of flash memory and attempts to read <acronym class="acronym">SDRAM</acronym> configuration from flash memory then load and runtime the firmware image and <acronym class="acronym">PIB</acronym> from flash memory. On success, the Boot runtime firmware starts and the device assumes HomePlug AV compliant behavior. On failure, the Boot Loader requests <acronym class="acronym">SDRAM</acronym> configuration, runtime firmware image and <acronym class="acronym">PIB</acronym> from the local host. The local host must be prepared to respond to these requests. 
			</p><p>
			On a system having no flash memory, the Boot Loader will request SDRAM configuration information from the local host. Once that is received, the Boot Loader will request a firmware image and <acronym class="acronym">PIB</acronym> from the local host. The local host determines which firmware image and <acronym class="acronym">PIB</acronym> to download, manages the download sequence and starts firmware execution. 
			</p><p>
			Atheros software, such as the Windows Device Manager, Linux Flash Utility and Embedded API all support the <span class="emphasis"><em>Boot from Host</em></span> configuration.
			</p><p>
			Once the firmware is running on the <span class="productname">INT6300</span>™ , a remote host can forward runtime firmware and <acronym class="acronym">PIB</acronym> to the local host via the <span class="productname">INT6300</span>™  firmware. The remote host might reside on another<span class="productname">INT6300</span>™  device, as shown in the previous figure, or be located anywhere on the <span class="productname">HomePlug</span>® AV network. In either case, the operations described are the same. 
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			Firmware Boot Process
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